Trailer is broken down in North Dallas/ Plano area. No towing service is willing to tow it to our house. Bearing is out on one of the trailer wheels. The back wheel is wobbly and the grease has come out. What should I do? Any advise?

Well, after hours of calling around, I was only able to find one wrecker service that would tow the boat & trailer and that was Bill's Wrecker Service but he was tired and couldn't do it until after 7:00 AM. So I planned on staying the night where I was but forgot I need to use be boy's room a good bit and after McDonald's closed the issue got more urgent. I then decided to splash some motor oil on the axle and try to make it about 3 miles to Walmart. Went real slow with hazards on and arrived at Walmart with a lot of smoke coming out of the back. Thought I might get some grease and use the bathroom there.

Turns out, Walmart was closed! The axle was looking worse by this point and all the metal bits around the hub were looking pretty bad. Ended up going the last 7 miles at about 5 MPH and made it home. I probably woke up half the people in Plano with THUMP, THUMP, THUMP, all the way home. I may have just cost myself some money because the axle looks a lot worst now. Either way, I'm home and still a little surprised more people couldn't tow it. Some RV towing service said they would do it for $600 minimum. Bill's will do it starting around $150. I guess tomorrow I'll take off the wheel and see if I think I could get the parts and fix it myself. Otherwise, I'll still need to have it towed.

Thus ends my first day of boat ownership.

If anyone has any advice I'd still like to hear it for the next time. I mean, what do you do if your trailer breaks? If I had it towed to a dealer, is there anyway to leave the boat without just leaving it in the parking lot? Do you just have to tow it home and then pay again to tow it to a dealer? There must be someway people handle this better than I have so far. Do I need to pack a sleeping bag and pillows for next time? I even tried calling the a Boat Towing insurance company but they could only help me if I needed it towed in the water.

Carry extra bearings.

you can tow it home S-L-O-W-L-Y !! Just keep an eye on it and replace it as soon as possible. (All that being said - if you don't have far to travel)
Bad lesson to learn
JMA...IMO
God Bless

I keep a Spare hub and all the tools required to change it in my truck any time I make a trip further than around the corner, and my trailer is only 7 months old. NOBODY has ever regretted being too prepared

The big gotcha with towing after self-destruction is that every mile (even very slow) risks that the spindle's machined surface could sustain damage that it might not have if service was stopped as soon as the problem was realized. Depending on the trailer design, that could mean a new axle becomes a requirement, which adds considerably to the cost of repair.

On a dual axle trailer you can sometimes just remove the bad wheel and drive home. I lost a hub and wheel came off coming home from fork one time on a single axle trailer. I unhooked the boat, put the gear in the truck and drove home and left it on the side of the road. Insurance will take care of it if it gets stolen. Came back the next day and changed the axle.

+1.. I carry an extra set of Bearing Buddies, grease gun, 2 full sets of bearings and cups and all the tools needed to change out a set on the side of the road on every trip I take with any trailer. Changing your own only takes 30 minutes tops on the side of the road and will save you $$$$ and potential heartache when you lose a set.

Future Advice: Carry spares to avoid pulling your trailer in that condition, it is a terrible idea. By the time you made all those phone calls you could have changed the bearings yourself and been home in bed.

In the past, instead of all those individual hub components, I've carried an actual complete hub in the box it came in. It has already been packed with grease and has a simple grease cap installed (not a Bearing Buddy) since it's just for emergency use. It was open-end up in the box so the grease stayed put, and it was in a plastic bag also. With a spindle nut, washer, and cotter pin added, I had everything that could fall off a spindle. If the old one isn't seized on the spindle, change-out is a snap with one of these. Some trailers even mount the spare tire/wheel onto a spare hub assembly that's also packed with grease and ready to go.

My advice, get very familiar with the critical areas of your rig, like the spindle/hub assemblies. Repack them at least once a year, and learn how to do it yourself. That way when something fails, you are not in the dark about how to repair it. The spindle/bearings/hubs on your trailer are the single most neglected (by most) but important items to be maintained on a fishing rig. As you learned, without hem, you are not going anywhere. With them functioning, it doesn't really matter what else breaks, you can still get where you are going and then worry about repairs.

I had a bearing go out between Dallas and Austin on 35. I had a spare hub and thought I had all the tools needed but I did not think about a torch. Parked it at a gas station and came back later for it.

I have done this before on a tandem trailer, may even have to take off the other tire on that axle if the bad side drags. Either way take it slower as you are supporting the weight on fewer tires....

Thanks for all the advice. From what I've learned today, I probably did do some extra damage in those last miles that will cost me considerably. I probably should have left it and taken the risk on it being stolen, as was said above. It sounds like, after this repair, I need to carry a spare hub from now on.

I'm still trying to figure out where to take it. Plano Marine said it looked like I needed a welder and recommended I tow it to McGill Propeller and Welding in Lewisville.
McGill Propeller and Welding
Sound like it might be in the $600 range to have it repaired. I'm hoping to find a better option but may go ahead and do that.

you should be able to buy a new axle with everything already installed for less than 300, I just got one for my lawn trailer a few months ago total bill was 280 and that was with two new wheels and tires. 3500# axle with hubs

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